Commuter rail funding clears state committee hurdle

Committed state funding for the SouthCoast commuter rail would quadruple under a transportation bond bill that passed the Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets this week.

Michael Holtzman

Committed state funding for the SouthCoast commuter rail would quadruple under a transportation bond bill that passed the Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets this week.

If approved by the Legislature, it would increase Gov. Deval Patrick’s $17.2 million three-year pledge for planning studies to at least $75 million, said state Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny, D-New Bedford, who chairs the committee.

The added funds also would target design, engineering and construction.
It would ensure funding would be available for the next several years to move along the $1.4 billion project to Fall River and New Bedford that has an envisioned completion date of 2016.

Montigny said he sought the commuter rail increase as part of a $2.9 billion transportation package that would grow to more than $4 billion with federal funding.

Expressing confidence the House and Senate would approve the transportation bill by next week and Patrick would sign it, Montigny said, “I do not foresee any opposition to it.”

The insertion for the SouthCoast rail reads “that not less than $75 million shall be expended … provided that funds may be used for but shall not be limited to design, environmental reviews and permitting, vehicle procurement, construction, construction of stations, right-of-way acquisition, layover facilities and economic development and land-use planning.”

The increase, if passed, would cement the commuter rail project’s funding further into the future, Montigny said. He called it “the number one economic driver for our region.”
Patrick last summer said his goal is to have a funding plan in place for the commuter rail by January 2010.

He envisions it would be paid in part by economic development revenues generated by commuter rail service. Before the project is completed, Patrick said he believes the plans would generate 15,000 new jobs.